PONTIFICIA ACADEMIA PRO VITA

 

PROSPECTS

 

FOR

 

 XENOTRANSPLANTATION

 

Scientific Aspects and Ethical Considerations

LIBRERIA EDITRICE VATICANA

00120 CITTA' DEL VATICANO

 

Edited by*

Prof. Juan de Dios Vial Correa, President

Bishop Elio Sgreccia, Vice-President

 

* As the custom, this document of the Pontifical Academy for Life is published under the editorship of the President and Vice-President.

In drafting its contents, the Academy received input from an international work group with specific expertise in the various desciplines connected with xenotransplantation; this work group met many times in the Vatican earlier this year.

Members of the work group are the following:

 

Bishop Elio Sgreccia, Vice-President of the Pontifical Academy for Life

      Chairman

 

For the scientific section:

 

Prof. Fritz H. Bach (xenotransplantation, immunogenetics)

      Harvard Medical School - Boston, USA

Prof. Fulvio Calise (xenotransplantation, clinical experimentation)

      Head of Hepatobiliary Surgery and Liver Transplants

      Liver Unit, Cardarelli Hospital - Naples, Italy

Prof. Felix Cantarovich (transplantation, health care policies)

      Coordinator of the National Commission on Xenotransplantation

      Buenos Aires, Argentina

Prof. Emanuele Cozzi (xenotransplantation, preclinical experimentation)

      Department of Surgery, University of Cambridge

      Addenbrooke's Hospital Hills Road - Cambridge, UK

Prof. Marialuisa Lavitrano (xenotransplantation, biotechnologies, molecular biology and genetics)

      Coordinator of "Italy Xenotransplant Project"

      Member of Working Group on Xenotransplantation,

      Council of Europe

      Dip. Medicina Sperimentale e Patologia

      University "La Sapienza" - Rome, Italy

Prof. Ignazio Marino (transplantation)

      Mediterranean Institute for Transplants and Highly Specialized Therapies

      City Hospital - Palermo, Italy

Prof. Eraldo Seren (xenotransplantation, veterinary experimentation)

      Professor of Veterinary Physiology

      State University - Bologna, Italy

Prof. Angelo Serra, S.J. (human genetics)

      Professor Emeritus of Human Genetics

      Sacred Heart Catholic University - Rome, Italy

Prof. Jonathan P. Stoye (xenotransplantation, virology-microbiology)

      Division of Virology

      National Institute for Medical Research - London, UK

 

 

For the ethical-anthropological section:

 

The Rev. Maurizio Calipari (moral theology, bioethics)

      Pontifical Academy for Life - Vatican City

Msgr. Prof. Ignacio Carrasco de Paula (moral theology, bioethics)

      Professor of Bioethics

      Sacred Heart Catholic University - Rome, Italy

Prof. Maurizio P. Faggioni, O.F.M. (moral theology, bioethics)

      Visiting Professor of Bioethics

      Alphonsian Academy - Rome, Italy

Msgr. Prof. Nunzio Galantino (philosophical anthropology)

      Professor of Philosophical Anthropology

      Southern Italy Faculty of Theology - Naples, Italy

Prof. Bonifacio Honings, O.C.D. (moral theology)

      Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology

Msgr. Osvaldo Neves de Almeida (international law business law)

      Secretariat of State (Sect. for Relations with States) - Vatican City

Prof. Renzo Pegoraro (bioethics)

      General Secretary of Lanza Foundation - Padova, Italy

Msgr. Prof. Angel Rodriguez Luņo (moral Theology)

      Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology

      Holy Cross Pontifical University - Rome, Italy

Prof. Antonio G. Spagnolo (bioethics)

      Associate of Bioethics

      Sacred Heart Catholic University - Rome, Italy

Justice C.G. Weeramantry (international law)

      Former Vice- President, International Court of Justice

      Dharmaraja, Mawatha - Sri Lanka

 

Representatives of the Holy See

 

Msgr. Tullio Poli - Secretariat of State (Sect. for Relations with States) - Vatican City

Dr. Maria Isabel Telleria Tapia - Secretariat of  State (Sect. for Relations with States) - Vatican City

 

 

 

 

Introduction

 

First Part

SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS

 

Historical Backround

 

Current Situation

        Reflection: Immunology of Organ Xenografting

      Experimental Models

      Zenozoonoses: the Transmission of Infectious Agents from One Species to       Another

      Advances in Biotechnology and Molecular Genetics

 

Moving to the Clinical Phase

 

 Part Two

ANTROPOLOGICAL AND ETHICAL ASPECTS

 

Preliminary Issues

          Human Intervention in the  Created Order

       The Use of Animals for the Good of Man

        Xenotransplantation and the Identity of the Recipient

 

Bioethical Issues

          The Health Risk

        Trangenesis

        Informed Consent

        Allocation of Health Care Resources

        Patentability and Xenotransplantation

 

Practical Guidelines